One day after Saudi Arabia and Kuwait ordered their citizens to evacuate Lebanon - a move many suggested telegraphed an imminent "military intervention" - the mainstream media has begun building the case for a new mid-east war, one which will involve Iran and Hezbollah (and potentially Russia, not to mention other Shia Muslims) on one hand, and Saudi Arabia and Israel on the other.
For that, it got help from the US Air Force today, and as AP reports this morning, "the ballistic missile fired by Yemeni rebels that targeted the Saudi capital was from Iran and bore “Iranian markings,” the top U.S. Air Force official in the Mideast said Friday." Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, who oversees the Air Forces Central Command in Qatar, made the comments at a news conference in Dubai. Predictably, Harrigian declined to offer any specifics on what type of missile they believed it was.
If the narrative sounds familiar, it's because it is: just as European terrorists conveniently commit suicide and always dutifully bring along their passports so they can be identified, so Iran always makes sure it leaves identifying marks when it illegally sells its weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen.
No really: after the Nov. 4 strike near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said investigators examining the remains of the rocket found evidence proving “the role of Iranian regime in manufacturing them.” It did not elaborate what, though it also mentioned it found similar evidence after a July 22 missile launch. French President Emmanuel Macron similarly this week described the missile as “obviously” Iranian.
"Obviously."
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement Tuesday that the July launch involved an Iranian Qiam-1, a liquid-fueled, short-range Scud missile variant. Iran used a Qiam-1 in combat for the first time in June when it targeted Islamic State group militants in Syria over twin militant attacks in Tehran.
It was unclear what, exactly, constitutes "Iranian markings": perhaps a stamp on the side saying "this ballistic missile was made in Iran, if found please return to PO Box 666, Tehran."
A still image of the missile taken from a video distributed by Yemen's pro-Houthi Al Masirah television station on November 5, 2017.
To be sure, this was not the first time the rocket was "found" to be Iranian, and the news first emerged hours after the missile was miraculously intercepted by Saudi counter missiles, and then again earlier this week when U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said "information released by Saudi Arabia showed the missile fired in July was an Iranian Qiam, which she described as “a type of weapon that had not been present in Yemen before the conflict.”
Haley said that by providing weapons to the Houthis, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had violated two U.N. resolutions on Yemen and Iran. She said a missile shot down over Saudi Arabia on Saturday “may also be of Iranian origin.”
“We encourage the United Nations and international partners to take necessary action to hold the Iranian regime accountable for these violations,” Haley said. It was not immediately clear what action the United States was calling for.
The fact that the story of "Iran's missile" made the mainstream media for the third time in one week, is just another indication that this story is meant to remain fresh in the mind of the public, even though - as AP reported - there was no elaboration or evidence actually disclosed to the public. Just like when Russia hacked the American middle class to vote for Trump...
Trivial (lack of) details aside, Harrigian said authorities were investigating how the missile was smuggled into Yemen amid a Saudi-led coalition controlling the country’s airspace, ports and borders. What authorities will find is that Iran was in breach of a variety of embargos, and further violated the nuclear deal, giving the democratic western media just the right amount of justification to root for Saudi Arabia and Israel when the next war begins.
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Update: and then there's this:
- HEZBOLLAH LEADER NASRALLAH SAYS SEES AN ISRAELI WAR WITH LEBANON AS UNLIKELY
- HEZBOLLAH LEADER SAYS TODAY WE ARE STRONGER, WARNS ISRAEL AGAINST ANY ATTEMPT TO EXPLOIT THE SITUATION
- NASRALLAH SAYS YEMENIS HAVE CAPACITY TO PRODUCE MISSILES, APPARENTLY DENYING SAUDI CLAIMS THAT HEZBOLLAH FIRED MISSILE AT RIYADH
and finally:
- HEZBOLLAH'S NASRALLAH SAYS SAUDI ARABIA WILL FAIL IN LEBANON AS IT DID IN ALL THE OTHER ARENAS IN THE REGION
We'll soon find out if he is right.